Keefer 1
Thomas Keefer
HLTH 313-01
Michael Mucedola
Research Paper
October 23, 2013
Josh Hamilton is considered by many to be one of the greatest professional baseball players of our generation. He has numerous All-Star selections and a Most Valuable Player award under his belt, and left the crowd star-struck at the 2008 Home Run Derby, where he hit 35 homeruns (second most in the contest’s history). A flawless, powerful swing, an outstanding throwing arm, and above average speed are all gifts he possesses, and he has made a name for himself as one of the most respected and feared hitters in the league.However, it has come to be common knowledge in the baseball community that Hamilton’s past wasn’t glamorous, and that he has fought and continues to fight an uphill battle to leave drug and alcohol addiction behind him.
Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Hamilton attended Athens Drive High School where he was a standout all-around player. After being taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1999 draft, he excelled at the minor league level earning many accolades. Going into the 2001 season, Hamilton was projected as the number one prospect in the country by Baseball America. However, in February of 2001, he and his parents were in a car accident, and Hamilton landed on the disabled list with back problems. This accident would unknowingly cause a downhill spiral of events in Hamilton’s life. With more money than he knew what to do with and time on his hands from being injured, the young athlete began hanging out with newly acquired friends at a local tattoo parlor in Bradenton, Florida. His persona began to change, as he started covering his body in tattoos that had no meaning to him and experimenting with drugs (crack cocaine specifically) and alcohol. The Devil Rays felt this change of character in their number one prospect, so Hamilton was sent to a sports psychologist and later to rehab after admitting to using drugs. He angrily checked himself out rehab after doctors tried linking his drug and alcohol use with his inability to cut ties from his parents and live independently (JockBio, 2010). Multiple further injuries in the following couple seasons resulted in a decrease of time spent on the field and an increase of time spent on the disabled list and using drugs and alcohol. By 2004, Hamilton simply wasn’t taking the drug tests given to him anymore and left baseball behind him. After spending the last $200,000 of his signing bonus on drugs, his wife forced him to move out and he began living with his grandmother who was the last family member who would accept him.
In October of 2005, Josh was given an opportunity to turn his life back around by Roy Silver of the Winning Inning, a Christian-based baseball camp. Roy extended Hamilton a deal that, in layman’s terms, allowed him to train to get back into baseball in exchange for manual labor around the facility. Hamilton obliged, and lived on an air mattress in the locker room of the facility while cleaning toilets, rekindling his relationship with God, and working his rear end off to get back into the pristine playing shape that he once was in (The Winning Inning, 2008). After spending time in Florida at the Winning Inning, Josh moved to Brockton, Massachusetts to play in an independent league in hopes of working his way back into baseball. In 2007, Josh’s hard work paid off with his debut at the major league level playing for the Cincinnati Reds. He was fortunate enough to turn the page in his life and leave thoughts of drug and alcohol use behind him.
When Hamilton first started hanging around the tattoo shop in Florida, he had no intention of using drugs and abusing alcohol. As far as he was concerned, he was still an ambitious young prospect trying to overcome an injury to get back on the playing field.Curiosity, as well as influence from those around him, lured him into tasting alcohol and snorting powder cocaine both for the first time one night (CBN, 2013). From that point forward, Hamilton was hooked. One could sayhis struggles with alcohol have been masked by the effects that cocaine has taken on him.He began snorting powder cocaine on a daily basis, and it started to engulf his personality. It wasn’t long before he was struggling to come up with money for his next high, and he would resort to such extremes such as pawning his wife’s wedding ring and attempting to sell the family television in order to fund his newfound hobby (Rebel Magazine, 2011).
Hamilton was first introduced to crack cocaine in an attempt to purchase its powder form, and after sampling it he never looked back. He experienced a much more intense high, and wanted to duplicate the feeling again every time. It has been concluded that users of crack cocaine are more apt to commit economic related crimes for that particular reason; to provide the funds for the next high (Kessler, Terra, Faller, Stolf, Peuker, Benzano, et. al., 2012).
Hamilton’s use of cocaine (both in the powder and rock form) took a toll on his body, which in turn affected his ability to compete professionally. Short term effects of using the drug were more relevant to Hamilton’s case as opposed to long term effects because of his discontinued use as well as his relatively young current age. Before he moved on to the rock form of coke, he snorted powder cocaine, and his nasal passage and sinuses suffered severely. He notes in his autobiography regarding the strands of tissue degrading in his nose; “I could feel them hanging loose behind the brim of my nose, and I would blow and blow until they came out” (Rebel, 2011). Snorting cocaine can also cause other complications within the nose which include but aren’t limited to cellulitis, destruction of the nasal septum, and oxygen deprivation (Tsoukalas, Johnson, Engelmeier, Delattre, 2008).The prefrontal cortex of the brain is also negatively affected by the snorting of cocaine hydrochloride, therefore functions of this section are impaired; these functions include but aren’t limited to problem solving and moral judgment (Oliveira, Barroso, Silveira, Sanchez, Ponce, Vaz, 2009).
While high on the crack form of cocaine, muscles in the body tighten up and fear of self-injury decreases substantially, which goes hand in hand with Hamilton being prone to injury on the baseball field. It is difficult to determine whether or not he ever competed high, but the symptoms of crack addiction suggest that users stay on the drug whenever they physically can. Hamilton’s use of the rock drug resulted in a minor level of damage to his brain, such as the gradual wasting away of the front and temporal lobes as well as the cerebral cortex (ESPN, 2012). This atrophy can lead to a decrease in learning capacity, visual as well as verbal memory, and information processing speed (Oliveira, et. al., 2009).The level of brain damage he sustained was not severe enough to impair his mental ability of playing baseball, but there is no doubt that if it weren’t for his discontinued use after three years (which he is very fortunate to have done) this damage would have prevented him from functioning let alone competing. Using crack can also have adverse effects on the user’s dietary patterns, but being a professional athlete, Hamilton usually had access to top quality nutritionists and doctors as well as healthy food choices (ESPN, 2012). In his three year tenure with using crack, Hamilton was fortunate enough not to have his career totally ruined by the adverse short term effects of the drug.
A longer term effect that Hamilton could sustainfrom his stint with crack addiction includes complications within his mouth (specifically his teeth, gums, and lips). Cuts, open sores, and blisters in the oral cavity can be sustained from smoking crack; these are usually obtained from hot or chipped glass on the smoking paraphernalia, but can also be caused by the hot smoke entering the oral cavity (Fischer, Powis, Cruz, Rudsinski, Rehm, 2008). Crack cocaine is also extremely acidic in its nature, and this acidity can cause erosion lesions of the teeth (Bassiouny, 2012). While it isn’t likely that an oral related injury will sideline him for much more than maybe a game, it is still something to think about as well as a reminder of his past.Another long term effect that is possible is the development of a degenerative brain disease such as Parkinson’s because of the atrophy of the cerebral cortex.
Josh’s struggle with addiction came out of nowhere especially for him, being a star athlete with everything to lose. His parents were always there for him as a child. The Hamilton’s were a tightly-knit family unit and his parents supported Josh’s playing baseball throughout his childhood. There was no indication during Josh’s childhood that drug and alcohol use would be a factor in his life; he was determined to play major league baseball from age seven, never touched alcohol or any drug before the night he became hooked, and even skipped his senior prom in fear of being pressured into trying something that could put his hard work in jeopardy. However, it could be assumed that growing up in such a close family was a double-edge sword for him. Josh’s parents travelled with him in support everywhere he played, from his first T-ball game until his third year in the minor leagues. When he was told by his parents that he needed to start living and travelling on his own, he felt loneliness and didn’t know how to carry himself alone in the real world (Rebel, 2011). This occurred right around the time of the car accident that injured his back, so the combination of his not being able to get on the field and his undeveloped cultural skills caused him to act in ways that didn’t match his personality. He started getting tattoos done to keep his mind off not being able to play, but his fragile emotional situation coupled with the persona of the people around the shop led him to get inked with questionable tattoos that had no meaning to him (Rebel, 2011).
Hamilton covering himself in tattoos could appear to be an early warning sign of his upcoming problem, but his athletic and ambitious attitude coupled with the values instilled on him by his parents made it impossible for anyone to hypothesize that he would soon be addicted to cocaine and alcohol. Arguments could be made inferring that Hamilton was sheltered as a child, and that his lack of knowledge about the dangers of the world around him could have aided in his “curious” decision to give alcohol and cocaine a try. When Hamilton admitted to experimenting with these drugs, the Devil Rays immediately sent their best prospect to rehab which he abruptly left. Leaving rehab should have been an early warning sign that Josh was taking a turn for the worst.
There are multiple treatment options available for crack cocaine addiction, such as counseling and rehabilitation centers. Another effective method is cognitive behavioral therapy, which analyzes relationships between behaviors, feelings, and actions. It is an interactive type of therapy. Therapists work with patients to help them challenge their irrational thoughts by mental experiments. Patients complete homework and are expected to practice outside of the therapy sessions (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2012). Being a goal-oriented and problem-focused method of treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy could have drastically helped Hamilton by filling up his free time with positive activities while he spent time on the disabled list. Also, the chance of relapse is decreased with cognitive behavioral therapy.
Hamilton’s family was also there for him in the beginning stages of his addiction, until he started breaking bonds with them by his continued use and continual relapse. His grandmother actually ended up being his ultimate “treatment”; one day while he was living with her, she told him that he was to either quit using drugs and alcohol or move out. This was the same grandmother that came to every single one of Josh’s sporting events as a child, who told him he could come to her at any time of need, who was always there to support him. Something about his grandmother giving him the last straw forced the clearest thought that his brain had conjured up in a while into his head; if I don’t change my ways, I will be living on the street.
Since 2005 when Josh started his path to recovery, he has had two documented accounts of relapse with alcohol; one in 2009 at a bar in Tempe, Arizona, and the most recent in 2012 at a restaurant in Dallas, Texas. Both of these cases of poor judgment started out by ordering just one drink, but unfortunately for Hamilton, one drink had the knack for turning into many, many more. Also, during his 2009 relapse, Hamilton was photographed at the bar associating with three women and licking whipped cream off of one of the woman’s breasts. This was an embarrassing lesson to him; now that he was on the major league stage, everything he did was put under a microscope.
These relapses have shown Josh that his battle with alcohol use isn’t quite over, but that he has controlled it well enough to stay sober for eight years with only two mishaps along the way. He is extremely fortunate that these alcoholic relapses didn’t lead into him smoking crack again, but at the same time kudos must be given to him for avoiding the rock during these low points. Josh, after his 2012 relapse, is a firm believer that his recovery process is an everyday battle, and that breaks aren’t permissible (ABC News, 2012).
Josh Hamilton’s battle with addiction is a stellar example of what alcohol and cocaine use can do to a person’s life, and how it can take someone of great fortitude and turn them into nothing. Hamilton was in the fast lane heading towards nothing, and with the help of those around him as well as a strong personal will to quit his addictions, he has made remarkable strides despite his two minor alcoholic relapses. Josh has made the most out of quitting his addiction by travelling during the off-season and telling his story to those who might benefit from it, as well as creating a foundation to help others overcome any obstacles they encounter. Josh is still happily married to his wife Katie, and they have four daughters (Julia, Sierra, Michaela, and Stella) while residing in southern California. He currently plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
References
National Alliance on Mental Illness. 2012. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?. Retrieved (Oct. 15, 2013) from